The present invention relates to a novel decorative trim panel and process for making same.
Composite trim panels of the type to which the present invention is directed are in widespread commercial use in the manufacture of home furnishings, automotive interior trim, and the like. Such trim panels are particularly applicable to interior automotive trim including package trays, door panels and headliners. Conventionally, composite trim materials employed for the foregoing purposes include a decorative wear-resistant and abrasion-resistant facing sheet which is applied over an underlying resilient padding material, enhancing the feel and cushioning characteristics of the surfaces to which it is applied. It has been customary in the past to enhance the decorative characteristics of such trim materials by including localized depressed areas therein. Various techniques have heretofore been used or proposed to fabricate such trim materials, including stitching the facing sheet and pad material together along selected areas and dielectric heat fushion techniques for imparting a preselected pattern to such trim materials.
The various techniques heretofore used or proposed are each subject to inherent disadvantages, either in high cost, time-consuming operations required for imparting a desired pattern or lack of flexibility in selection of the various designs which can be incorporated in such trim panels. For example, the stitching of a facing sheet and a pad material to each other is an extremely costly and time-consuming operation, and the resulting composite material is characterized as allowing relative movement between the facing sheet and the underlying padding material in those areas devoid of any stitching, which generally results in wrinkling and an excessive wear rate of the composite material.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved process for making a composite trim panel.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved composite trim panel.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of the invention.